FREE Lesson Plan Template for Online Course Creators and Virtual Academies

Need a free lesson plan template that’s ready to use? Look no further. This article provides a variety of free lesson plan templates designed for different teaching styles and classroom scenarios, from daily and weekly plans to subject-specific templates.

Simplify your teaching process, save time, and ensure your lessons are structured and effective with these templates. Let’s delve into finding the ideal template for your educational needs.

What you will get from this article:

• Free, downloadable, and customizable lesson plan templates streamline the teaching process, offering structures for various teaching styles and classroom scenarios.
• Effective lesson planning involves setting realistic goals, maintaining student-centric lessons, and allowing for improvisation to adapt to dynamic classroom needs.
• Disco.co provides an integrated platform for lesson planning with automation, diverse learning formats, and a unique methodology to enhance the educational experience and promote revenue growth for learning businesses.

Selecting an appropriate lesson plan template mirrors the process of finding the ideal tool for a job. It takes into account the teaching style, the learning objectives, and the diverse needs of the students.

A well-structured lesson plan template not only saves time but also enhances the effectiveness of the teaching process. This allows instructors to focus more on delivering precise lessons with clear objectives and less on administrative tasks.

There are several types of lesson plan templates available to cater to different teaching requirements. For example, weekly lesson plan templates, daily lesson plan templates, and subject-specific templates are some of the commonly used formats in the education industry. Each of these templates has a unique structure and layout, making them ideal for various teaching scenarios.

3 Tips for Effective Lesson Planning

Even though the correct tools and platforms are vital for effective lesson planning, the usage of appropriate strategies is just as crucial. Knowing how to set realistic goals and timing, keeping lessons student-centric, and leaving room for improvisation can significantly enhance the effectiveness of your lesson planning process.

These strategies not only streamline the lesson planning process but also guarantee a more fulfilling and engaging learning experience for the students. They promote a structured approach to teaching, facilitating the delivery of content in a manner that resonates with the students and meets their unique learning needs. Therefore, here are tips to effectively plan a lesson and use the free lesson plan templates:

Tip #1: Set Realistic Goals and Timing

Establishing attainable goals and timing forms a vital component of effective lesson planning. It helps students stay focused and manage their activities efficiently. Proper timing enables teachers to strategically plan and adjust lessons to cater to the needs of their students.

For instance, daily lesson plans may encompass an entire class period, while unit plans could span multiple sessions, each lasting between 20 to 90 minutes.

To ensure realistic and flexible timings, one can incorporate a regular flex period, design activities adapted for physical distancing, and use flexible pacing to adjust time, sequence, and pace for different student needs or groups.

Moreover, setting achievable goals for a lesson plan commences with clearly defined learning objectives, followed by a well-organized introduction, and a sequence of targeted learning activities that are in line with the stated objectives.

Tip #2: Keep Lessons Student-Centric

Fundamentally, a lesson plan serves as a roadmap for the student’s learning journey. Therefore, it is critical to keep the lessons student-centric. Here are some ways to enhance the learning experience:

• Incorporate student choice
• Foster discussions in lesson planning
• Take into account the varying attention spans of students when timing classes
• Facilitate collaboration by organizing group activities and icebreakers

Here's a good resource about facilitation and teaching styles that can help you design a student-centric lessons.

Maintaining a student-centric approach in lessons involves equipping students with the knowledge and skills necessary to pursue their goals, engaging them in the planning, implementation, and assessment processes, and taking into account their readiness, interests, and learning preferences.

Examples of this approach include interactive presentations, real-time assessment, experiential learning, establishing clear expectations, and fostering critical thinking.

How to implement it? In your LMS, use the embed <> feature to integrate your favorite apps into your all-in-one learning platform. For instance with Disco LMS, you can add different kinds of content and teaching methods such as social feeds, events, different content formats, links, and embed code to add to your lessons.

Tip #3: Leave Room for Improvisation

Besides establishing attainable goals and maintaining student-focused lessons, allowing room for improvisation is crucial. Flexibility in lesson planning allows instructors to adapt their teaching methods to the unique needs of their students and the dynamic nature of the classroom environment.

Improvisation in lesson planning promotes increased student and community engagement, improved listening skills, and enhanced collaboration. It also allows for the physicalization of learning, leading to better comprehension of the material. Teachers can incorporate flexibility into their lesson plans by integrating improvised games, open-ended questions, and various prompts that foster the core skills in the 21st century.

DIY Lesson Plan vs. Free Lesson Plan Templates

Creating your own lesson plan from scratch, or the DIY approach provides instructors with the flexibility to tailor every aspect of the lesson to their specific teaching style and the unique needs of their students. This can be particularly beneficial when addressing specific learning objectives, incorporating innovative teaching methods, or integrating new educational technologies.

A DIY lesson plan allows for a high level of personalization, ensuring that the content, activities, and assessments are perfectly aligned with the desired learning outcomes. Additionally, crafting your own lesson plans can foster a deeper understanding of the subject matter, as teachers actively engage with the curriculum during the planning process.

Expert Tip: DIY with Disco LMS

If you want a highly personalized lesson plan and you still want to do it faster, then here is Disco! Disco is the most powerful, modernized LMS, and highly customizable perfect for your DIY journey.

1. Sign up or log in with your Disco account, we offer a 14-day free trial for first-time users
2. Create a learning experience, select the course template that is ideal for your course or lesson
3. Then feel free to add lessons, and modules, with different content formats, and embed online tools of your choice!
4. Bonus part: You can ask our AI assistant to write, generate images, and create a lesson plan or a course outline for your course

On the other hand, utilizing free, downloadable, and printable lesson plan templates can save considerable time and effort, especially for instructors who are managing multiple cohorts and topics. These templates offer a structured format that helps ensure all essential components of a lesson are considered, including objectives, materials, activities, and assessments.

They can serve as a reliable starting point for lesson planning, providing a consistent framework that can be easily adapted to different topics or teaching scenarios. Free lesson plan templates can also be a valuable resource for new education entrepreneurs developing their planning skills or experienced instructors looking for fresh ideas or a more efficient way to organize their lessons.

In the next section, you can download 3 of the most useful lesson plan templates for free!

3 Types of Free Lesson Plan Templates (with Downloadable Links!)

1. Weekly Lesson Plan Templates

Weekly lesson plan templates are designed to help instructors and course creators plan their lessons for the entire week. One such weekly lesson plan template typically includes sections for:

• Learning objectives
• Activity steps
• Evaluation methods
• Required materials

Weekly lesson plans can significantly improve the use of classroom time in online courses. They standardize the format of activities, promote better planning and preparation, and reduce distractions.

Weekly lesson plan templates play a dual role by fostering time management and assisting in the development of a comprehensive curriculum. They facilitate the inclusion of essential components such as learning objectives, instructional strategies, differentiation techniques, and alignment with educational standards. Hence, they serve as a roadmap for educators, guiding them through the teaching process and ensuring that the students receive a well-rounded education.

👉 Download the Weekly Lesson Plan Template for Free!

2. Daily Lesson Plan Templates

In contrast to weekly templates, which offer a week’s broad overview, daily lesson plan templates provide a detailed daily roadmap. They usually outline the content areas, goals, and learning objectives for each day. This type of template facilitates a targeted teaching approach, allowing course creators to adjust their lesson plans daily based on the learning progress of the students.

Using an editable lesson plan template for course creators, academic or college lesson plan templates, and a monthly lesson plan template, aid in creating structured lessons and monthly lesson plans. The template is organized with sections for lesson objectives, materials, facilitation tools, prerequisites, assignments, and evaluations.

This sequential approach ensures a streamlined teaching process and enhances the learning experience for students by providing them with a clear understanding of the daily goals and activities.

👉 Download the Daily Lesson Plan Template for Free!

3. Subject-Specific Lesson Plan Templates

Subject-specific lesson plan templates are tailored to meet the unique requirements of different subjects. These templates are designed to provide customized plans for different subjects, live sessions, workshops, and training, ensuring a comprehensive and tailored learning experience.

For instance, a community management lesson plan template would include sections for:

• Lesson title
• Module
• Lesson number
• Cohort name
• Length of lesson
• Required teaching materials

These templates improve the teaching process by offering organization, efficiency, and a clear roadmap for facilitators to follow. They also assist course designers in integrating crucial instructional components into their lessons and establishing specific goals, teaching techniques, and evaluation systems.

This tailored approach ensures that the learning objectives are aligned with the subject matter, enhancing the overall learning experience for the students.

👉 Download the Subject-Specific Lesson Plan Template for Free!

Integrating Google Suite Tools into Lesson Planning

In today’s digital learning era, effectively utilizing technology tools can greatly improve the lesson-planning process. One such tool is the Google Suite, a collection of productivity and collaboration tools that include Google Docs, Google Slides, and Google Sheets.

These tools collectively offer an all-inclusive solution for crafting and managing lesson plan templates, creating interactive lesson content, and monitoring student progression. They offer convenience, flexibility, and a host of features that can simplify the task of lesson planning, making it easier for instructors to deliver quality educational content.

Google Docs for Lesson Plan Templates

Google Docs serves as a robust tool for the creation and management of lesson plan templates. With its user-friendly interface and extensive range of features, Google Docs allows educators to craft lesson plan templates that cater to their specific teaching needs.

Google Docs facilitates seamless collaboration and sharing, enabling educators to work together on a lesson plan template, no matter where they are located. Moreover, it allows educators to access and edit their lesson plan templates offline, ensuring that they can work on their lesson plans anytime, anywhere.

How to Embed Google Docs in your LMS

Google Docs are easy to embed into your learning management system. For instance, with Disco's unique platform, all you have to do is click on "Add app" and then choose "Google Docs".

Paste the URL of your document and then you're ready to go! This is what it looks like afterward:

Google Slides for Interactive Lesson Content

Another potent tool from the Google Suite, Google Slides, can be employed for the development of interactive lesson content. It allows educators to incorporate a variety of multimedia elements into their lessons, such as videos, audio, and interactive quizzes, making the lessons more engaging and interactive for the students.

Moreover, the flexibility of Google Slides enables educators to:

• Customize their presentations to align with the learning objectives of the lesson
• Ensure that the lesson content is not only informative but also interactive and engaging
• Enhance the overall learning experience for the students

How to Embed Google Slides in your LMS

Similar to Google Docs, you can embed Google Slides in Disco LMS. Click "Add app" and this time, instead of looking for Google Slides, you should click "Custom Embed". And then paste the embed code of your Slides.

Google Sheets for Tracking Student Progress

Monitoring student progress is a vital part of education, for which Google Sheets provides an extensive solution. Educators can use Google Sheets to maintain performance records, document project steps, and monitor participation points, providing them with a clear overview of each student’s progress.

Google Sheets also allows educators to:

• Conduct analytical operations on student data
• Provide valuable insights into the student's learning progress
• Identify areas for improvement
• Tailor their teaching methods to better meet the learning needs of the students.

Expert Tip: Save Time From Manual Tracking -> Utilize Disco's Learner Progress Report

Utilizing Disco's learner progress report offers a multitude of benefits over traditional manual tracking methods like Google Sheets and Excel. This innovative feature streamlines the monitoring of student progression by automating data collection and analysis, thus saving course operators significant time and effort they would otherwise spend on manual entry.

The progress reports are designed to provide real-time insights, enabling instructors to quickly identify which students are excelling and who may need additional support. This not only enhances the ability to tailor educational strategies to individual needs but also improves the overall efficiency of the teaching process.

By leveraging Disco's automated reporting tools, educators can focus more on creating impactful learning experiences rather than getting bogged down by the administrative burden of tracking progress manually.

Create Your Lesson Plans On Disco!

Disco is a modern operating system for virtual academies and other educational businesses designed to accelerate revenue, deliver transformative learning experiences, and operate with ease. The all-in-one platform simplifies the task of lesson planning. It offers powerful automation, diverse learning formats, and a unique learning methodology that enhances the teaching and learning experience.

Disco utilizes a variety of automation and productivity tools for optimizing the lesson planning workflow. It automates repetitive tasks, sets reminders, and schedules content delivery.

This allows educators to focus on the core task of teaching, leaving the administrative aspects to the Disco platform. With its learning products, insights & analytics dashboards, and a cohesive member management system, Disco can contribute to enhanced lesson planning, leading to accelerated revenue growth for learning businesses.

Disco's Unique Learning Methodology

Disco introduces a unique learning methodology by crafting cohort-based courses that enhance connection and transformation, utilizing its advanced learning tools and member management system. This approach integrates:

• Learning
• Community
• Productivity
• Monetization tools

within a single platform, facilitating the establishment and development of a flourishing learning community.

The unique learning methodology of Disco.co ensures transformative learning experiences by offering features to facilitate intimacy at scale, centralizing learning materials, and creating personalized learning materials that are tailored to members’ goals. This approach offers enhanced engagement rates, improved knowledge retention, and better academic growth indicators compared to traditional methods.

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Join our Thriving Learning Community: Thrive by Disco!

Effective lesson planning is the backbone of successful teaching, particularly in the context of online courses and virtual academies. A well-structured lesson plan, aided by the right lesson plan template, offers a clear roadmap for instructors, first-time education entrepreneurs, and course creators, allowing them to deliver precise lessons with clear objectives.

Whether it’s weekly, daily, or subject-specific templates, the right choice can greatly enhance the teaching process. Download our free lesson plan templates, or straightly create your lessons and modules efficiently on Disco's all-in-one LMS.

Grab our 14-day free trial gift for first-time users, and if you want to get more content like this, join our growing learning community of course creators, founders, marketers, instructional designers, and community managers who are working towards a brighter future of education.